The revisions are based off the suggestions Human Resources Consultant Jim Payne presented during the last board meeting.

USD 250 Human Resources Director Julie Menghini said along with Payne’s suggestions, some of the changes are updates and clarifications of what the board has been doing.

Menghini proposed to lower the screening committee size to five or six members as suggested by Payne, and to narrow characteristics from 25 to five.

“This will keep us more focused, small, confidential and targeted,” Menghini said.

After making revisions to the hiring policy, Menghini said she sent Payne the document to have him review her work. Menghini said Payne sat with USD 250 Superintendent Destry Brown to go over the revisions and Payne said no further changes were needed.

USD 250 Board Member Marlene Willis asked the board about changes in staff buy-in during the hiring process.

In response, Brown told Willis before, he would ask teachers if they would like to participate in the hiring and he would use as many as he could — now only a small selection of three teachers will be involved in screening and interviews, until the finalists are selected.

“Now, it will be much different — we will only use a few,” Brown said. “For the finalists, the faculty will be involved more and they will do something with faculty or parents — they will be able to see them in action.”

These changes are to help avoid compromising the confidentiality of references and the candidate.

Board Member John Clark asked Menghini how third party background checks will work with the revisions.

“Background checks are usually done at the time of hire,” she said. “When we determine who to interview we can request a background check.”

Brown agreed.

“We can require a license for the application to be complete,” he said. “These can be done before approving the hire.”

Although requirements before approving the hire can be made, Menghini said sometimes it may not work in a timely manner as it make take more than six weeks for transcripts to be sent from other states, such as Texas.

Menghini said long wait times could harm the application pool as applicants may feel unstable having to wait for approval.

“In these cases we will get as much done as possible,” Menghini said. “For administrators, in big bold letters, it will say transcripts will be sent — emailed or mailed — and an uploaded copy of their license will be needed before an application is considered complete.”

The revisions will be voted at the July board meeting.

— Stephanie Potter is a staff writer at the Morning Sun. She can be emailed at spotter@morningsun.net or follow her on Twitter @PittStephP and Instagram @stephanie_morningsun.

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